Sailor Robbed In Dance Hall

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29843, 8 June 1962, Page 16

Sailor Robbed In Dance Hall

A plate, taken to the kitchen from one of the tables in the Mikado Coffee Lounge in High street in the early hours of yesterday, contained £36 but it was not a tip for the waiter. The money was the proceeds from the assault and robbery of a young Norwegian sailor in a dance hall toilet earlier in the night according to the police in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday. Oliver Peter Noble, aged 20, a cable layer, pleaded guilty to a charge of robbing Roy Eward Thorslund of a wallet valued at £1 and £6O in money on June 6. He was remanded in custody to June 14 for sentence. Mr B. G. Dingwall appeared for the accused. Mr E. A. Lee, S.M., was on the bench.

Senior-Sergeant G. M. Cleary said Thorslund, a seaman. who had just been paid off after a tour of duty in the m.v. Vingrom. attended a dance in the Ollivier’s road hall on the evening of June 6. About 11.30 p.m. he went to the toilet where he was approached by Noble and* another man. Wallet Stolen

Noble asked him if he could change some money and Thorslund produced his wallet. Noble attacked the youth, punching him about the face with his closed fist. During the assault Thorslund’s wallet was stolen. It contained £6O.

The matter was reported to the police and Thorslund was taken to the Christchurch Hospital for treatment, Senior-Sergeant Cleary said. Inquiries were made and in little over an hour after the incident was reported, Noble was located in the Mikado Coffee Lounge. While the police were present he tried to hide some money down the back of the seat he was occupying. He denied the offence. A £5 note was found tucked down the back of the seat and later the sum of £36 was found on a plate in the kitchen of the coffee lounge. This was a plate which had come from Noble’s table.

At the detective office Noble denied that he had robbed Thorslund but said that the £36 had been given to him by a half-caste Maori and a pakeha at the dance hall. He claimed he had been told to take the money and put it in a rubbish tin in the Square. The wallet stolen from Thorslund was found under the floor mat in the rear of the police car and Noble subsequently admitted hiding it there when he knew he was in trouble, said Senior Sergeant Cleary. Noble strenuously denied that he had robbed Thorslund but admitted that he had been in the toilet and

that there was only a pakeha there as well as the complainant. Noble said the pakeha started to assault Thorslund and as he was leaving handed him the money and wallet. Badly Bruised

As a result of the assault and robbery the youth suffered a badly-bruised left eye which had closed right up and a split upper lip. Senior - Sergeant Cleary asked that the money be returned to Thorslund as he was flying home to Norway that afternoon.

Mr Dingwall said that Thorslund had been unable to identify the money as his when evidence was taken that morning. Noble claimed that £5 of the money was his own. Thorslund was entitled to some compensation for the assault, Senior - Sergeant Cleary replied. It appeared that another person, who had still not been located and who had part of the proceeds, was involved in the offence, said Mr Dingwall. Evidence had been given that there was, more than £5O in’the wallet when it was stolen and that there was some division of the spoils. Senior - Sergeant Cleary said. The Magistrate made an order that £36 be paid to Thorslund and that any money recovered later be forwarded to him. An application for bail for Noble was refused. Evidence of Thorslund and another Norwegian seaman from the Vingrom, Johnny George Gundersen, was taken in the morning as both men were leaving New Zealand. Mrs A. A. Pedersen acted as an interpreter. Noble was called again in the afternoon and pleaded guilty.